Princeton University to be first institutional tenant at Hub research and business incubator in New Brunswick

Princeton University will be the first institutional tenant at the Hub, a 1.7 million-square-foot mixed-use development that is being built near the train station in New Brunswick.
The four-acre redevelopment site will be connected to the train station via a sky-bridge. As part of an Urban Enterprise Zone, occupants of the Hub will be exempt from sales tax on construction and will be eligible for other city and state incentives. The first phase of the Hub will be a 10-story, 210,000-square-foot mixed-use building at the corner of Albany and Kirkpatrick streets.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced on Thursday that Princeton University, Rutgers University, Hackensack Meridian Health, and RWJBarnabas Health will be the first tenants of the Hub, which is designed to foster research, entrepreneurship, innovation, and start-up incubation in the state. The New Jersey Economic Development Authority will be a driving force of activity at the Hub, state officials said.
“This project is a major step in helping New Jersey reclaim its spot at the top of the innovation economy,” Murphy said. “With its three core partners and first institutional tenant, the Hub will allow us to harness the collective experience of two of the country’s most prestigious research universities and two of its largest healthcare systems, which will serve to revolutionize research and development in our state.”
New Jersey Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin said he hopes the $175 million investment in the Hub will be a boon for New Brunswick and the state, creating more jobs and start-up businesses.
“This collaboration between our partners in the academic and private sectors will help to prepare our workforce to take on challenging innovation sector career opportunities,” said New Jersey Economic Development Authority CEO Tim Sullivan.
Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway said the Hub is about leveraging the shared commitment of Rutgers and other partners to help New Jersey regain its position as an innovation powerhouse. “It will serve as a powerful engine to speed the translation of research and take discoveries from the laboratory to the marketplace,” Holloway said.
Princeton University Vice Dean for Innovation Rodney Priestley. said support for innovation is crucial at a time when society is facing so many challenges.
“Support for innovation is essential for bringing creative and diverse minds together to forge solutions and build opportunity,” Priestley said. “Through our role as the Hub’s first institutional tenant, Princeton University will help transform our region into a vibrant center of innovation with a firm commitment to ensuring inclusive participation. By harnessing the vast reservoirs of ingenuity among our regional research institutions together with community and industry partners, we will build a better future.”
The Hub site is owned by the city of New Brunswick and managed by the New Brunswick Development Corporation (DEVCO).
Amenities of the Hub will include a makers’ space, an event space, a café, parking, and a fitness and wellness center. The building will include a 95,000-square-foot innovation center featuring modern workspaces designed to foster collaboration among researchers, entrepreneurs, start-up companies, and others. Space will be available for a variety of membership packages. A 55,000 partner space will provide Rutgers University, RWJBarnabas Health, Hackensack Meridian Health, and DEVCO with collaborative and office spaces. The remaining 60,000 square feet of the first building will be available for lease by corporate and institutional tenants. The first tenant will be Princeton University.
Officials anticipate that the groundbreaking for the Hub will take place in the summer of 2021. The Hub is slated to open in 2024.
Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.
Why not Princeton getting a slice of this innovation economy. We can be like Palo Alto , or New Haven Put something up at the shopping center, Westminster Choir College?? Of course there are tax questions, zoning, neighborhood pushback , bureaucracy to deal with. But this town would be a natural. The pay off down the road economically might be enormous